Almost
by mockingjay341
Summary: Ruby and Clancy, out in the field, in Russia; what could possibly go wrong? (Set about four years after the final book, but there are no spoilers. Can be read as slash, or just friendship.)


**A/N: This one-shot is primarily for Mouse Stella, who is the most enthusiastic reviewer EVER! They left reviews all over my other Ruby Redfort stories, and I loved reading each and every one! ;) Sorry this took so long - I wanted to make sure it was just right!**

 **Ruby and Clancy are probably about 17 years old in this story, by the way.**

...

"Стоп! Ты окружен! Положи свое оружие!" The shouts echoed down the corridor behind Clancy, sending him sprinting in the opposite direction. "Стоп!" He turned a corner and almost slammed into the wall. Dead end. He spun around just in time to see three of the Russian guards who'd been on his tail rounding the corner too, pointing their pistols at him. "Положи свое оружие!"

He had no idea what they were saying.

"Ruby?" Clancy hissed into his walkie-talkie, his eyes not leaving the enemy. He heard nothing but static until a bullet bounced off the wall just beside his head, and he dropped the device, letting it fall to the ground and clatter away from him. He raised his arms above his head and shifted his focus to the guards ahead of him. "L-Listen, there's clearly been a misunderstanding here," He began carefully, feigning confusion, but was interrupted almost immediately.

"English?" One of the men stepped forward curiously.

"American." Clancy corrected, wincing as the Russian pulled back the hammer of his gun. The younger guard put a hand out to stop him from shooting, though, and muttered something nervously. The first man replied sharply, then faced Clancy again.

"You are to come with us." He ordered, his thick accent making the words difficult to understand. Clancy nodded wordlessly. He had learned a long time ago something that Ruby had yet to take on board; there was a time and a place for snarky comments. Before he knew what was happening, the two guards were leading the way to wherever they were headed, and the third was behind him, shoving him roughly forward. _Oh, brother._

 _..._

Ruby lay on the cell floor, one hand twirling a strand of her hair, the other tapping a beat against her leg. She hummed - 'Come and Get Your Love' she thought the song was called - and she waited.

Admittedly, this was not going how she'd planned; get into the base, get hold of the blueprints, go home. But she hadn't been shot on sight, which was a plus.

"Hey!" The guard keeping watch over her cell barked, making her glance over at him lazily. "Stop that!" The man was clearly very unnerved by her laidback behaviour, which was ironic.

"What?" Ruby said, keeping her voice clear and a little higher than usual.

"Your..." He frowned, trying to think of the right word. "Music!"

"My humming?" Ruby blinked at him, and sat up. "I'm sorry; it's just I'm _really_ bored."

"Too bad. Stop it." The guard grunted and turned away.

"Maybe... If I had a book or a magazine..." She looked pointedly at the newspaper he had set down.

"It's in Russian."

"I'm a fast learner."

"No."

Ruby sighed. "Please?"

The man stood abruptly and strode over the her cell, placing one hand on the bars. He opened his mouth to say something, but didn't get past the first syllables of the words when the door behind him slammed open, and his commanding officer walked in. "Stay away from the prisoner, Andrei!" He barked. "She's dangerous!"

"This little thing?" Andrei raised an eyebrow at Ruby, who was in the process of lying back down.

"She did not come alone." The officer gestured to his two lackeys, who dragged another figure forward. "Look who we found."

Ruby sat bolt upright. _Don't show them you care_ , she thought, biting back the words she had almost shouted. Clancy's hands were bound in front of him, and he was struggling against the men shoving him forward. He nearly tripped as he saw Ruby, stuck in the cell. He rolled his eyes at her and she stuck her tongue out - none of the soldiers in the room noticed. Andrei stepped forward, grabbing Clancy by the hair and pulling him towards the cell. "Ah," He smiled at Ruby as Clancy winced. "This is your boy?"

"I am not _her_ _boy_!" Clancy spluttered, but Andrei ignored him, kicking his legs out from under him, and sending him falling to the ground. Clancy was too taken aback to even gasp as he was kicked again.

"Hey!" Ruby was on her feet in an instant. "I don't know him, alright?"

Andrei leaned towards the officer and they began to mutter in Russian. Clancy turned to Ruby. She waved to get his attention, then put a fist on her shoulder and drew it across her chest in a 'u' shape. She was apologising to him. In sign language.

'It's ok.' He signed back, as best he could with his wrists tied. 'Are you alright?'

Ruby nodded. 'I have a plan. Can you take two those two soldiers?'

Clancy stared at the men, wide eyed. They were tall and strong, trained in combat; and _armed_. He turned back to Ruby. 'Yeah.' He signed.

'Good. I'll get the other two.'

'That's _it_?' Clancy signed quickly, but Ruby was already looking away, looking over his shoulder. Andrei grabbed his arm and pulled him up, reaching with one hand to open the cell. The lock had barely clicked when Ruby yanked the door open and landed a punch, knocking Andrei back. He released Clancy, who ducked and grabbed the gun from the older man's belt. He sprinted to the doorway and shot one soldier in the knee, flinching at the sound. Once the man was down, Clancy had no trouble smacking the butt of the pistol into his head, knocking him out cold. _One down; one to go._

Ruby lifted her hands of off Andrei's neck, hitting him one more time to make sure he was unconscious. " _That_ was for Clancy." She hissed as she stood up and scanned the room for the officer who had found them. He was closer than she'd thought - he pounced on her almost immediately, knocking her back down to the floor. Wrists pinned above her head, Ruby swung her leg up and kicked the man in the stomach, but he took no notice of her, keeping her stuck with one hand, whilst reaching into his pocket with the other. He grinned maliciously as he withdrew a knife, bringing it slowly up to her neck.

Clancy couldn't believe his luck as he watched the soldier in front of him hold his hands up in surrender. All he had done was fire a few shots in that general direction, and the man was completely terrified. With a few punches (a move well-practiced back at Spectrum HQ) he was incapacitated; Clancy, stood over him, couldn't help grinning when he realised he had taken down two Russian soldiers like it was nothing.

A sudden cry from behind him jolted him back into action; he swung around, gun held out in front of him, to see Ruby struggling against the Russian officer who'd caught them in the first place. The pistol in Clancy's hand suddenly felt unusually heavy and alien as he tightened his grip around it, lifting it up and aiming carefully. He squeezed the trigger, closing his eyes as the shot rang out in the small room.

Ruby gasped as she heard the bang of a gun being fired, and felt the weight lift off of her, allowing her to sit up. She felt something wet and warm on her cheek, but didn't stop to wipe it off - she instead turned to her left, seeing with great relief that it was a wide-eyed but ultimately in-control looking Clancy who was holding the gun. "You didn't-" She began thinly, but her question was answered by a groan from her right. She saw that the officer had a painful but non-fatal wound to the shoulder, and so grabbed the knife which he'd dropped and knocked him unconscious with the handle of it.

"I _couldn't_ kill him-" Clancy began apolegetically.

"I never wanted you to." Ruby replied honestly.

She quickly unfastened the officer's holster and retrieved his gun from it smoothly, before Clancy reached out a hand to pull her up. She swung around as soon as she was on her feet so that they were back to back, guns raised, breathing heavily in the eerily silent room.

"You hurt?" Ruby broke the silence. Clancy shook his head.

"No. Are you?"

"Nah." They turned to face each other, and Clancy reached tentatively for Ruby's hand. She took it without looking.

"That was some plan." Clancy muttered disbelievingly. " _Take out those two highly trained soldiers over there, Clance, you'll be fine_!"

"I knew you could do it, bozo." Ruby breathed, leaning towards him slightly. He copied the movement, stepping in her direction.

"We almost died!" He hissed.

"We didn't ' _almost die'_." She rolled her eyes dramatically.

"We _could have_ died!" He whispered; a whisper was all that was needed now, they were so close.

"We didn't, though." Ruby let her weapon slide to the floor and took his other hand in hers, a hint of a smile tugging at her lips. A sudden gunshot cracked through the corridor outside and they both turned to the door, letting go of one another. "Come on, Crew." Ruby grabbed her gun off of the floor and started towards the source of the sound as her mind slipped back into gear; back to thoughts of spies and blueprints and the possibility of nuclear war. "We've got a planet to save."

...

 **A/N: Sorry it didn't end quite the way you wanted, Mouse Stella - there will be another one-shot (or possibly two-shot) which does! ;) Hope y'all liked it!**


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